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Guys and Balls

Gays and Balls

Okay, this movie was a riot. I laughed so hard throughout the whole thing. Finally a comedy, and honestly, I need more LGBT+ comedies in my life. There are so many tragic stories in this genre that it’s so refreshing to watch something that’s light and oftentimes silly while still managing to portray a positive message. That’s absolutely what this movie does.

When Ecki’s soccer team finds out he’s gay, they boot him off their squad. In order to get back at them, he starts an all gay team with the help of a washed up soccer star.

This is a soccer movie, or football if you aren’t ‘Murican, in case the short summary didn’t tip you off, but I enjoyed it even though I’m not really into soccer. There’s nothing too technical here, so that didn’t put me off. But it is in German, which means subtitles. It’s worth it though, because the overall story is very sweet.

I loved Ecki so much; I wanted to befriend him almost immediately. At its core, this movie is about him coming to terms with his sexuality as he works to enact revenge on his former team. His father struggles with his sexuality as well, going so far as to try and change his orientation with a trip to a skanky strip club, but thankfully Ecki’s supportive sister steps in and helps him assemble an all gay soccer team to beat the homophobes.

The team struggles at first, because nothing is ever easy, but I honestly loved all the characters and really enjoyed watching them become a team. The movie doesn’t go into very much depth with every character’s background—the cast is much too big for that—but they all felt multidimensional to me regardless, even Ecki’s father.

Ecki’s love interest, Sven, is absolutely perfect for him. I really loved them together. If you’ve read some of my other reviews, you know I tend to harp on chemistry either making or breaking a movie for me, but I had no trouble believing these two were in love from the get-go.

And if you understood my slight obsession with sex in elevators, you’d know why I had to stop the movie and flail for a bit when they had their first kiss. Yes, the chemistry is good!

Major warning for homophobia though, especially by Ecki’s old soccer team, and I will say that the movie does rely quite heavily on stereotypes. I read some negative reviews about that, but I think this is going to come down to personal taste. For me, the multidimensionality of the characters saved it. They didn’t feel like caricatures to me, and perhaps that’s why I didn’t see this as something negative, but I can understand how some might.

For example, I was quite surprised—and happy—to see a gay polyamorous relationship shown in positive light, even if the three men involved were into leather and worked at a sex club.

With all that said, this is not a movie for everyone. I especially love stupid comedies, so that’s probably why I’m going to rate this incredibly high and recommend it hard, but if you aren’t into what some may call cheap humor and camp, you might not have the same love for it.

5 stars, 10/10 highly recommend

Do you have a favorite queer movie with a happy ending or one you’d like me to review? If so, let me know and I’ll add it to my list.